Once you start looking, gifts of abundance are visible – often in unexpected people and places. For example, I read a news article about a New York City mail carrier who was retiring and wrote a letter to each of the people on his route. He said he’d gained so much by encountering each of them that he considered his life full and abundant. I don’t know anything about his faith life, but I know his story encouraged my faith.
I’ve been reminded more than once to see Jesus in those I encounter in daily life. The message seems to be to treat the grocery clerk or the panhandler, the bus driver or the janitor, the mail carrier or the teacher as I would want to treat Jesus himself. But the message might also be that those whom I encounter should be able to see Christ in me. While I am looking for signs of God’s abundance in Scripture and in my community, could I be a sign of God’s abundance to others?
This message is excerpted from “Turn it around” by Karen G. Bockelman in the January/February 2019 Gather magazine.
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